-"Hey dad, when do you do hobby stuff?"-"Well,..."

[Michi]

When I am painting and my 3 year old granddaughter wants my company I think of this poem.

The Children's Hour Related Poem Content Details
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Between the dark and the daylight,
      When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
      That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
      The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
      And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
      Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
      And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
      Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
      To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
      A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
      They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
      O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
      They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
      Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
      In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
      Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
      Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
      And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
      In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
      Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
      And moulder in dust away!

Man, this is sweet - and so true! I love it, thank you. Many a night I experience exactly that: The tapping feet, a whisper, the silently opening door and the curious peek onto the painting desk with thousand whispered questions...

[Daeothar]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has seen his hobby time devoured by the little people. I have a 3 year old daughter, and from the time she was born till about when she was 2, there was hardly ever any time and my painting output slowed down to a crawl (if not full stop...).

It does not help that she sleeps extremely light (and late; she takes after me in that respect ) and wakes to full alertness whenever I try to sneak up the creaky stairs to my hobby room. And then I can't crank up the music the way I used to, because that'll certainly wake her too (built like a bunker, but very thin inner walls, this house). It's become better of late though; we can now fire a cannon in her room without waking her, which is nice (haven't actually tried that (yet) ).

Must be all the running around in the garden; I'm certainly not complaining.

So now I get my painting done late in the evening, when I'm the only one up; my wife has to turn in early most days because she has to wake early too and she needs lots of sleep. So when she's down, I can hobby to my heart's content.

But by then, even though I'm a bit of a night owl, I'm often too tired from a full day's of stressful work, playing with the little Khaleesi when I get home, cooking duties, and other odd jobs. So more often than not, I tend to either read a book, watch Netflix or do some graphics work on my PC (mostly X-Wing cards these days). More often than not, a combination of the above, usually between 2130h and 0100h.

Add to that my weekly game night with The Voivod, the (also) weekly RPG night with our gaming group and my weekly kickboxing session at the gym, and there's only a few evenings left. Throw some social obligations and chores on top of that and the picture becomes familiar to most I reckon...

But every now and then, I actually manage to paint an entire evening (usually when the wife is visiting her parents across the country with the little one, and I have not other planned events), as I'll have the castle to myself. And I will get loads done, because I will still have some energy left to hobby.

I am lucky in that my little girl has been very interested in my painting though, and has occasionally been joining me since she was 2. I bought some plastic army men for her, an apron and cheap brushes, and many a Saturday afternoon, we will sit down at my desk together, and paint. Often she will be asking for a session days in advance!

She's become pretty good for her age, able to block paint in (approximately) the right places, but most of the time she just likes to slap paint on her figures (the brighter the better), and I let her; it's about the quality time together and I enjoy that immensely, and it's obvious she does too.

Of course I won't get any small detail work or smooth blending done, but it's a good time to base coat, or prep minis.

I am (still ) in the process of moving my hobby desk downstairs to my man-cave/war-room/games-room, the finishing of which I have made part of my new year's resolutions. When I finally do, I will be able to play music during my painting sessions again, and I will finally be able to tackle larger projects such as terrain pieces. Plus; I'll have actual room for two (read: 1 1/2 ) people to paint...

So yeah; I don't have the time I once had, but I do enjoy the time that I can free up when I'm able. And painting with my little girl is one of my favorite things in the world... 

[RSDean]

So the good news is that if you are persistant and lucky, you could end up here.  These are my sons last spring, playing an encounter in a Hordes of the Things fantasy campaign, devised by my older son (on the right). Each is using one of his own armies.

When they were little, though, what I got done was mostly done when they were asleep, and I had a tiny but dedicated room to leave everything spread out, so I could just slip in, turn on the radio and get to work.  In more recent times, I have also gotten a fair amount of painting done with a portable kit at lunchtime or on business trips, which I can set up in under five minites and have cleaned up just as quickly, so an hour is good, and even half an hour will result in some (slow) progress. 

I don't know what to say about dedicating time to relationship maintenance, though. The kids' mother and I now divorced, and it's hard to say whether hobby time was an effect of ongoing estrangement, a cause, or simply not related.

[MagpieJono]

My eldest is my usual gaming opponent nowadays too

Can't find fellow gamers in your area? Simply breed your own! 

[Will Bailie]

I've two little boys, 4 and 2, so I'm in the same situation.  Gaming time is down to visits to the local club 3 or 4 times a year.  Painting and modelling is an hour or two a week if I am organised enough (which is to say not very often).

In the past week though I managed a brilliant little compromise, though!  My 4-year-old has been asking for toy soldiers.  I had a fruitless search for old-fashioned, traditional wooden soldiers (Skull and Crown Wooden Wars was the closest I could find but they were still not exactly what #1 son wanted).  Then I remembered that box of Perry Plastic French Infantry waiting patiently in the lead/plastic mountain.  #1 wants "England Soldiers" so he's going to get redcoats and a Union Flag, but the uniform will be inspired by Napoleon's Swiss regiments.  The paintjob will be basic, block painting and that's fine by both of us.

He also wants Hussars, ever since watching the Nutcracker, so I'll be getting him some plastic cavalry once the infantry are finished, and then I'll make sure that at least one kid in the kindergarten knows the difference between a shabraque and a sabretache!

[WitchfinderGeneral]

No time to paint or build (with 2 under 3 years)... doesn't keep me from spending money on minis and increasing the lead mountain! Because, somewhen I'll have the time to paint everything, you know... 

[Daeothar]

That's the spirit!

And having come out of that void you mention only recently, I can assure you; it will get better.

Only 24 more years I keep telling myself. that's a lot of time to accumulate miniatures, so when I finally retire and the Khaleesi has moved out of the house, I, at least, will be able to keep myself busy till I move to the big dice tower in the sky...